Tepco’s Sale of Souvenirs

I think Tepco should better sell diluted contaminated water as souvenirs. Why not If people are enough baka (dumb) to buy it and take it home. It is maybe finally a good solution for Tepco to dispose of all that accumulated radioactive water away from the plant site.

Tepco halts sale of folders with Fukushima nuclear plant pictures

FUKUSHIMA (Kyodo) — The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has halted its sale of file folders with photos showing the current conditions of the complex due to public criticism, company sources said Wednesday.

“We received many views, including favorable ones. We will consider whether we can restart their sale (which began Aug. 1),” an official of the operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said.

The folders, offered in a set of three for 300 yen ($2.70), have pictures of the Nos. 1-4 units of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, stricken by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

The operator known as Tepco said it sold them at two convenience stores on the premises of the Fukushima complex after people involved in work to scrap the plant asked the company to sell souvenirs. Tepco said it does not make any profit on the folders.

But there have been complaints from people who were offended by the folders.

A Tepco official involved in the folder sale has said, “As there are very few opportunities to show the real situation of the Fukushima complex, we wanted people to become aware of it through these goods.”

In one of the world’s worst nuclear crises, the Fukushima Daiichi plant on the Pacific coast suffered meltdowns at three of its six reactors, spewing radioactive materials in the surrounding environment.

Decontamination and other efforts are under way to enable people who lived near the disaster-stricken plant to return to their hometowns, while Tepco struggles with massive compensation payments and cleanup costs stemming from the disaster.

A plastic file folder is seen with pictures of Tepco’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The utility halted sales of the folders amid criticism it was looking to profit from the 2011 disaster at the plant.

Aug 9, 2018

Tepco suspended the sale of souvenirs at its crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant Wednesday — just eight days after launching the products — following public outcry that it was looking to profit from the 2011 disaster.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. had been selling plastic file folders imprinted with pictures of the Nos. 1 to 4 units at the crisis-hit plant at two of the facility’s convenience stores since Aug. 1, after receiving requests for memorabilia from visitors and workers.

But the sales by the utility immediately drew criticism with many people posting angry comments on social media. One comment said Tepco was responsible for the disaster and “had no right to profit from” it, adding that the move was “arrogant and showed scant consideration for the disaster victims.” Others said the plant operator should at least donate the proceeds from the sales to local residents and charities.

“We have received a wide variety of opinions over the past week and decided to suspend sales in order to reflect on those views and consider what would be the proper way to handle such merchandise,” Tepco spokeswoman Yuka Matsubara said.

Matsubara also said the utility is unsure if sales would ever resume.

She emphasized the company never intended to take profits from the sales as the ¥300 retail price for a set of three folders was almost the same as the production cost.

“We had learned that visitors and workers had been keeping the receipts they received from the convenience stores at the complex as souvenirs to show their families,” Matsubara said. “To allow visitors a chance to share their experiences and inform everyone that Fukushima is gradually recovering, we made the decision to sell souvenirs.”

After the sales of souvenirs were reported by several news outlets, mixed comments began appearing on Twitter.

A tweet by @mtycskni_ said, “I guess it would be proper to give away such things to the visitors who wish to have them” instead of selling them, while another from @potetohakusyaku asked, “Why don’t visitors buy local products made in Fukushima instead of such goods?”

The Fukushima plant that suffered nuclear meltdowns following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster is not open to the general public. Only plant workers, decommissioning support staff, media representatives, local politicians and residents are permitted on the grounds as long as they are 18 or older. Last year, 12,500 people visited the complex — up 1,800 from 2016.